Sunday Homily, October 20, 2013, 29th Ordinary Time C
Readings:
Exodus 17, 8-13 Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Psalm 121, Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
2 Timothy 3, 14-4, 2, Remain faithful to what you have learned.
Luke 18, 1-8, Because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her.
Introduction to Exodus:
Recall that the Book
of Genesis ends with the Israelites still in Egypt. When the Book of Exodus begins, a new Pharaoh
ordered that all newly born Hebrew males were to be thrown into the Nile River
to die, for he feared the sheer number of the Israelites. The Egyptian men
would continue to take their young women and use them as slaves, the older
would die, and the Israelites would vanish from the face of the
earth—genocide.
The inspired writers tell us that God had something else in
mind. He used Moses, who had been hidden
at birth, to have Pharaoh change his mind and set the Israelites free. The ensuing journey of the Israelites to
receive the Law, a covenant with God, and finally their own land is presented
in the rest of the first five books of the Bible.
That journey would take forty
years. Our First Reading from the Book
of Exodus is from the first month of that journey.
The reading from Second Timothy is also part
of today’s theme of having faith in God.
Homily
Jesus presented a
parable to his disciples to teach them to pray always. Widows, along with the
orphans, are the poorest of the poor. The
widow who had been ripped off in our gospel was from apparently a very small
village. The judge is her worst
nightmare! He does not respect God or
neighbor. He’s unwilling to even listen to her.
However, we are told
that she doesn’t lose heart. Why? Because Jesus’ words have taught her that
women do have rights and power, and that ‘one with God is a majority.’ In faith she perseveres; and her prayer is
answered.
I visualize her using a walking stick as she comes to the
gate of the village where this judge arrogantly resides for business. Each day she stands a little closer to him as
she speaks; and each day, to the judge, the size and appearance of her walking
stick becomes a little larger and more ominous.
Finally, standing very close to him one day, he decides that he will
deliver her a just decision so that she will not strike him!
Jesus states that his Father will bring justice to those who
put their faith in him. But today’s
parable story ends with the question, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory
will he find faith on earth.
The answer was given by the poor widow of the parable. His faithful bride, who prays without ceasing,
who listens to, and obeys his words, will be waiting for him when he comes in
glory.
Today, as always, we have come together to be united in
prayer. We have come to pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks,
for that is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.’
This Liturgy is the Prayer of the People of God, and it
joins us at this moment with people celebrating it all over this world as we
ask the Spirit to come upon us through the Gospel and the Bread about to be
blessed and broken.
We are Christ’s body
especially when we join our hands and raise them toward God in prayer with the
words that Christ taught us to bring about his kingdom by forgiving others,
like the unjust judge, as we have been forgiven.